Launch of Deer Management Strategy Group Report
- Published on: 6 December 2023
- Last updated on: 12 April 2025
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, along with Minister of State for Nature, Heritage and Electoral Reform, Malcolm Noonan, today published the Irish Deer Management Strategy Group’s report on developing a sustainable deer management strategy for Ireland.
This is the culmination of several months of work by the Deer Management Strategy Group, chaired by Mr Teddy Cashman, which was set up to lead the development of a renewed vision and strategy for the management of wild deer in Ireland. The development of the report involved a thorough process including public consultation, stakeholder meetings and stakeholder sub-committees, which led to the formation of a series of recommendations, which the group has presented to the Ministers.
The report includes a summary of the responses to the Public Consultation process and a complete list of the recommendations produced by each of the sub-committees. The report lists 15 Actions, 8 of which are recommended for early implementation. These recommended actions address a wide range of issues from hunter training and forest design to land use management and the venison market. Nonetheless, there was an overarching consensus on three of these: the establishment of local deer management units in known hotspot areas, a review of the current deer Open Seasons Order and researching the viability of the development of an independent deer management agency.
Commenting on the report, Mr Teddy Cashman said:
“We were heartened by the constructive engagement of all the stakeholders in the development of this report. This kind of constructive collaboration will be key to the successful implementation of the deer management programme."
Minister McConalogue thanked the Deer Management Strategy Group and all the stakeholders that contributed to the process for their work and added:
“The growing deer population is a considerable problem and I will be actioning the recommendations immediately in the new year. This will include the creation of a deer management agency, the establishment of local deer management units and changes to the Open Seasons order. Progress from this strategy group, chaired by Teddy Cashman, with officials from my department, the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH) and Coillte, is very welcome. For agriculture, our natural ecosystems and in particular our forestry ambitions, it is important that we have sustainable management of our national wild deer population. However the impact of deer proliferation extends far beyond this to road safety, animal health, public health, and not least the health and welfare of the deer themselves."
Minister for Nature, Heritage and Electoral Reform, Malcolm Noonan, said:
"An overabundance of any species can be highly damaging to biodiversity. In the case of wild deer, the most significant and obvious impact is on native woodlands. Deer browsing can prevent the natural regeneration of these habitats and inhibit their expansion, which is a particularly serious issue in ancient and long-established woodlands and can also devastate newly-planted woodlands. Preventing wild deer from accessing these precious habitats is not easy and can be very resource intensive. I’m pleased to welcome this report and the pathway it sets out towards the sustainable management of wild deer populations in Ireland, which will also bring benefits for farmland, forestry and road safety, as well as nature. I would like to thank Teddy Cashman and the other members of the group for the work carried out to date and also the significant input and engagement by all stakeholders.”
The current Deer Management Strategy group, which includes representatives of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the NPWS, Teagasc and Coillte, will develop and advance an initial implementation plan in relation to the of short-term recommendations of the report and report back to Minsters within 9 months.
Notes
Report of the Deer Management Strategy Group
Overgrazing by deer is a serious pressure and threat for native woodlands across Ireland, including the Annex I woodland types listed under the EU’s Habitats Directive. Deer densities in Wicklow in particular, but also in parts of Tipperary, Waterford, Donegal and Galway, are above a sustainable level for land management activities and are impacting on farming, forestry, nature conservation and biodiversity.
In September 2022, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, with support from the Minister of State for Heritage, Malcom Noonan, appointed Mr Teddy Cashman as an independent Chairman to lead the drive in developing a renewed vision and strategy for the management of wild deer in Ireland.
The Irish Deer Management Strategy Group (IDMSG) was set up with representatives from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), National Parks & Wildlife Service (NPWS) and Coillte.
The role of the IDMSG was to develop initiatives to ensure sustainable deer numbers while achieving the objectives of landowners ranging from biodiversity, forestry, agriculture, animal health and road safety.
It is widely accepted that wild deer numbers have risen sharply in recent years, exacerbated by the reduction in hunting and deer management activity during the COVID-19 pandemic, which due to travel and socialising restrictions resulted in a challenging venison market.
The IDMSG undertook significant direct engagement with all the relevant stakeholders including foresters, farmers, eNGOs, conservationists, ecologists, deer hunting representative groups and individual deer hunters. This culminated in the setting up of five sub-committees that were tasked with looking at specific issues that came to the fore as part of the public consultation and various stakeholder engagements.
Appendix 1: Sub Committee Recommendations from the Irish Deer Management Strategy Group
All of the recommendations of the Sub-Committees were reviewed by the IDMSG with some common themes emerging across the groups. The Strategy Group have highlighted short & medium term actions that came through that process:
Short term (9 months)
1. Appointment of a program manager to set up deer management units with local co-ordinators.
2. Program manager, in conjunction with Deer Management Strategy Group, to develop an Implementation Plan.
3. Set up Deer Management Units, in critical/hot spot areas initially, following on from localised stakeholder meetings.
4. Revise the deer Open Seasons Order to align with the current dates in Northern Ireland in the first instance.
5. Investigate the feasibility of establishing a Deer Management Agency and research the best model for such an Agency set up.
6. Investigate support incentives necessary for national deer management program (including for Venison market).
7. Review of changes to Statutory Instruments and current legislation.
8. Revision of the process of Section 42 licence applications under the Wildlife Acts to ensure consistency of approach.
Medium term
1. Review the results of feasibility of setting up a Deer Management Agency.
2. Secure changes to legislation following review of Wildlife Acts and other deer related legislation.
3. Monitoring of the impacts (on biodiversity, forestry, farming and road safety) arising from Implementation Plan.
4. Review Open Seasons Order again as required on foot of 3 above.
5. Engage with state bodies to develop a structured deer management policy on State lands.
6. Phased certification for all hunters over next 3-5 years.
7. The integration of a deer management module into agricultural, forestry, land management and environmental training courses.
8. Review of forest design and scheme specifications in relation to deer management.